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‘Dalglish not made a scapegoat'

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre is adamant Reds boss Kenny Dalglish was not ‘hung out to dry' over the Luis Suarez racism affair.

Dalglish was heavily criticised for his support of Suarez after the Liverpool striker was hit with an eight-match suspension for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra in October.

Dalglish and his players all wore T-shirts backing Suarez soon after the Uruguay striker was charged and the Scot also initially refused to criticise his player for failing to shake hands with Evra during a subsequent match at Old Trafford.

Ayre concedes mistakes were made but he insists the club's hierarchy never made Dalglish a scapegoat.

Speaking on Sky Sports News, he said: “The great thing about Liverpool Football Club, and particularly the great thing about the team we have running that football club together day to day, is we are all in it together.

“We have a little word that we started using about a year ago, which is ‘Unity'. We were unified during that process, we are unified as a management team, we are unified as an ownership and management team.

“Kenny wasn't hung out to dry and never would be. He's a very important part of our team. We were all involved in all of the process and we all move on from the process for the same reasons. He is a good man and we all support him.”

Ayre acknowledged that the row could have been handled better, but added that Suarez and the club have moved on.

He said: “Look, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Did we get anything wrong? Yes, I am sure we did, but we move on. The most important thing is we have certainly moved on, Luis has moved on and what's important now is everybody focusing on Liverpool. ” — AFP